It is common for presenters, educators, and other speakers to have a spontaneous need to make a presentation with “dry erase” markers and a white board in an office, briefing room, or classroom, but find no working markers. Either the markers are completely absent, or the markers that are available are missing caps, and are consequently dried out and unusable.
At other times, only one color marker is available, but more than one color is needed to make an effective presentation.
Even if all the needed colors are available, it's challenging to manage all the caps for the markers during a demanding presentation. If the caps are not properly managed, the markers begin to dry out during the presentation, making them less effective, resulting in lines that are harder to read as the presentation progresses. Further, the solvent of the “dry erase” markers is highly volatile, and rapidly begins to fill the air with unpleasant and possibly toxic fumes unless the caps of the markers are promptly replaced after the use of each marker.
Also, when there are many colored markers present, they sometimes are stacked precariously on a narrow ledge that is provided with some white boards, resulting in an avalanche of pens onto the floor, thereby delaying or disrupting the presentation.
Moreover, even if a presenter has started a presentation due to the presence of a plurality of markers of various colors, and is managing to cap and un-cap as needed, there is no guarantee that an eraser will be found. In fact, many times it is not possible to find an eraser after the presentation has begun, even though the existence of a usable and conveniently-placed eraser seemed reasonable to assume. Consequently, the hapless presenter is reduced to erasing portions of the presentation using a bare hand.
Marker carriers are known that hold a plurality of markers of various colors. However, it is difficult to remove and replace markers from such carriers during a presentation. Further, these carriers do not protect the tips of the markers, so the user is responsible for removing and replacing the caps for the markers during the presentation, or else tolerate the progressive drying of the markers during the presentation, while the room becomes heavy with the volatilized solvent evaporating from the uncapped markers.